\"Peace\" Protestors shut down major cities

Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco...why isn't law enforcement doing more to prevent and remove these unlawful protests. These people, by protesting without permits and blocking traffic, are committing arrestable crimes.

They fear the public backlash. Bush is already seen as a destroyer of free speech, now he ""silences"" protests about his unpopular war. Seriously, while it probably wouldn''t be true, that''d be the image. NYT running front page article with giant picture of peace protestors being led away in chains.

Precisely how interfering with the lives of people, creating a general nuisance, and making a general ass out of yourself can be construed as ''protesting war'' evades me. It''s such a shame that these are the poster children for opposition to the war, because some very smart people have some very smart things to say about it. It''s as infuriating to me as the ''Iraq ex-pat argues with peace protester on radio program'' that''s circulating so much now, as if this obvious nit-wit (the girl) is representative of every opposition. Sometimes, the problem with being a fairly liberal guy is that there are so many liberal extremists making a mockery out of some well considered ideas who conservatives assume are the only liberals.

You can add Boston to the list of cities, I got stuck in it tonight. About 3 months ago the Janitors Union went on strike here, and I must say deservedly so, they blocked the Long Fellow Bridge and the Mass Pike and got BLASTED on the news for doing it.

Same news, same anchors, different night and it''s not being blasted?

Protest all you want, but stay out of the main streets please.

People have a right to speak their mind.

People do not have a right to take action to force me to listen and respond to them. PERIOD.

And I hear that tonight is opening night for ""The Producers"" in San Francisco. Oh well, there''ll be other shows...oh wait, all the shows have been sold out, never mind.

Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco...why isn''t law enforcement doing more to prevent and remove these unlawful protests. These people, by protesting without permits and blocking traffic, are committing arrestable crimes.

Wouldn''t not having a permit be part of the statement? If you''re going to protest the actions of your government, it seems kinda silly to ask for their permission first.

"Pyroman[FO" wrote:

""]They fear the public backlash. Bush is already seen as a destroyer of free speech, now he ""silences"" protests about his unpopular war. Seriously, while it probably wouldn''t be true, that''d be the image. NYT running front page article with giant picture of peace protestors being led away in chains.

They could protest without trying to ruin other peoples lives. It''s just going to hurt the anti-war case and get the ""middle"" to side with the people they are protesting. If you''re not very sure about this war who are you going to side with? The people trying to ruin your daily life or the President who''s trying to free an oppressed people? Both of those are extremes but those are the extremes getting played on the media.

I think most of the protestors are morons just like most of the flag waving ""let''s go bomb some Arabs"" are morons.

They could protest without trying to ruin other peoples lives.

That''s entirely true. I think the whole situation at this point is incredibly frustrating. If you''re against the war, do you block off the streets and piss people off - people who just want to go to work in most cases, or do you hand out leaflets on street corners - leaflets that get chucked in the garbage because people are so numbed with everything that they just don''t care? Is it this one
I imagine a lot of the protestors are just so frustrated that no matter what they say, no one of importance seems to be listening, that they''ll do anything to get attention.

It''s just going to hurt the anti-war case and get the ""middle"" to side with the people they are protesting

Ugh. Situations like that drive me crazy. Siding with a position you don''t necessarily agree with just because you don''t like the people who DO agree with you? What''s the emoticon for me screaming and tearing my hair out? Is it this one :cry:?

I think most of the protestors are morons just like most of the flag waving ""let''s go bomb some Arabs"" are morons.

I''m not entirely sure that most protestors know exactly what they''re protesting, but the very act of protesting is valuable in itself. Hopefully there was at least one point in a cabinet meeting where the fact that people were protesting the (then upcoming) war gave them cause to consider their actions. I highly doubt it, but whatever....

I''m not entirely sure that most protestors know exactly what they''re protesting, but the very act of protesting is valuable in itself. Hopefully there was at least one point in a cabinet meeting where the fact that people were protesting the (then upcoming) war gave them cause to consider their actions. I highly doubt it, but whatever....

If I were in the cabinet I wouldn''t pay any attention to these protestors. I''ve been to two protest and I didn''t see a single anti-Saddam sign. The majority of the protestors are nuts and shouldn''t be taken seriously. Eslyium is against the war and can argue his case without calling people who are for the war names.

If I were in the cabinet I wouldn''t pay any attention to these protestors. I''ve been to two protest and I didn''t see a single anti-Saddam sign. The majority of the protestors are nuts and shouldn''t be taken seriously.

Well, yeah, if the protestors are arguing the America''s going to war ONLY because Bush hates countries with a ""Q"" in their name, that''d make sense.
But if there''s worldwide peace protests, surely someone''s got to be thinking ""waaaaaait a second...."" I''d certainly hope so, but again I doubt it.

Eslyium is against the war and can argue his case without calling people who are for the war names.

Like certain other message boards, perhaps? Geez, when did that place turn into a circus?

Well you either hold a rally at a park. You can hold up signs and shout chants.

The other alternative is to free roam the streets, pull newstands to block traffic, yell at people. In addition, you can fondle your dreadlocks while sitting on a newstand that someone is trying to remove from the street and cause enough general confusion that delinquents are disguised enough to vandalise and hurt people.

If you do the later, be prepared to be strong enough in your beliefs that you are willing to be arrested and put in jail.

The ironic thing is, these people opposing the war, are missing significant events that are happening while they are marching.

And really people.... civil disobedience is noble, but forcing the police officers to carry you is just pointless and only going to get you hurt. Is it really worth the extra 15 seconds worth of effort strain on the police force?

This poor 20 year old girl in Berkley sobbed how she pleaded to police not to arrest them. What did she think a peace protest was? a party to hang out with friends?

Like certain other message boards, perhaps? Geez, when did that place turn into a circus?

No doubt! The name calling, language and conspiracy theories are attrocious!

"fangblackbone" wrote:

This poor 20 year old girl in Berkley sobbed how she pleaded to police not to arrest them. What did she think a peace protest was? a party to hang out with friends?

That''s what the flyer they were handing out on campus said. What, you don''t think members of this generation are politically savvy, do you?

This poor 20 year old girl in Berkley sobbed how she pleaded to police not to arrest them. What did she think a peace protest was? a party to hang out with friends?

God! At least have the courage to stick up for your convictions!!
""Please don''t arrest me! If my daddy finds out, he''ll kill me!""
That''s about as bad as Natalie Maines furiously back-peddling for saying she was ashamed of President Bush.

Looks like the arrests that have occured in San Francisco started when the ""Peace"", and I say this loosely, protesters pulled some commuter out of his mini-van beat him up and stole his car. At this point I guess hell broke loose for a bit and the police stepped in and made arrests.

At which point I say good for the police. Protesting is all find and dandy, when done peaceable/legally but the above behavior is criminal and should not be tolerated.

Some people will take any opportunity to turn a protest into a riot, unfortunately.

look at what happened in London, half the protestors were 14-16 year old schoolkids who didn''t have a clue what they were protesting, they just went because it was a day off school...

Actually in London most of the protests were pretty peaceful up until it was infiltrated by another dissaffected group who were just wanting to cause the Government more trouble and saw a opportunity to grab a bit of publicity by attacking the police.

Fortunately the police were notified beforehand about the protest and there were many police on standby to control the trouble. Most protestors in UK notify the police that they''re going to protest in the first place so therefore the police are ready and can reroute traffic and people don''t get hassled too much.

I have no problem with protestors who demonstrate peacefully and don''t try to ram their opinion down my throat, what I have absolutley no time for are the (minority of) protestors who hijack otherwise peaceful demonstartions and incite crowd trouble.